OnTheMarket to have 17,200 branches listing by 2021, claims City broker

Briefing document makes claim as portal's CEO claims it has been instrumental in reducing Rightmove's average number of leads generated per branch.

OnTheMarket is expecting to have 17,200 estate agent branches listing on its platform in three years’ time, a briefing document from its City broker has revealed, 5,000 more than it does today.

Zeus Capital’s projections for the business reveal that if OTM can convert its ‘introductory offer’ customers into fee paying ones then it will earn £388 a month on average from each agent by 2021.

This will generate £64 million in revenue for the portal from estate agent listings and an overall profit after tax of £27.4 million.

The prediction coincides with an assault on Rightmove by Ian Springett, CEO of OTM (below), who claims his portal’s marketing and agent recruitment efforts have helped bring about a small decline in Rightmove agent numbers.

In a letter to OTM member agents seen by The Negotiator, Springett highlights his rival’s recent annual results, claiming that “we have already disrupted the duopoly of Rightmove and Zoopla and believe we are reaching a crunch point for agents.”

Rightmove results last week revealed that the number of leads it generates for agents had dropped, down from 210 leads per advertiser per month in 2015 to 171 in 2018.

“Although NAEA Propertymark is reporting an overall downturn in buyer enquiries in January, we believe that the fall in Rightmove’s lead generation may also result from the substantial growth in leads delivered by OnTheMarket,” says Ian Springett.

Rightmove’s figures also reveal that the number of agents listing with the portal declined last year by nearly 300.